Mutsumi
Mutsumi (睦美) is a one-time character that appears in both Noragami anime and manga. She appears for the entirety of the first chapter in the manga, and only makes a cameo appearance in the anime’s first episode. Appearance and Personality Mutsumi is a middle-school girl with long, brown hair tied in twin tails. Her eye color is green. She is seen wearing a grey sweater outside of her white shirt instead of proper school uniform which is black, and sits in the middle of her class. In the anime Mutsumi is said to often skip classes due to sickness, disregards the proper uniform rule, and for some reason the teachers always forgive her. This causes her classmates to hate and bully her; saying that she is acting like she’s special when she’s not, that she’s annoying, and that she should just kill herself. In the manga, aside from the aforementioned personality she is also somehow childish, refers to herself as a third person and doesn’t get why people around her dislike her when she doesn’t do anything to offend them. When Mutsumi complains about this to Yato, Yato points out that she is arrogant due to her attitudes and her way of thinking. History Mutsumi was bullied by her classmates because she always skipped school and wore sweaters instead of proper uniform. As she cried inside a bathroom stall, she noticed a phone number scrawled on the wall (“Yato - all year round! 090-XXXX-##3X; I’ll solve all your troubles!”) and instinctively called the number, only to find a boy in late teens suddenly appear out of nowhere with a woman. This boy claimed that he was a god, called Yato, and that he would help solve her troubles together with his sacred weapon Tomone. Mutsumi tells Yato her situation and wants him to stop her from bullying. After receiving 5 yen as payment (offering), Yato told her that a Phantom was related to the bullying as it is exam season and everyone is on edge. He told her that he can kill the Phantom, but didn't answer when she asked whether the bullying would stop. Using Tomone's weapon form Hanki, a dagger, Yato sliced through the Phantom and killed it. Mutsumi was happy and returned to the class, only to find that everyone still looked down on her. Frustrated with the treatment, she accused Yato of being a liar. Yato, who had been silent about the bullying, told Mutsumi to stay still as he severed the bond between her and her classmates. He told her that though cutting her bonds with her classmates would make them forget about her, they would treat her like a stranger, and that Mutsumi has to re-form the connection to her friends should she want to be accepted. Mutsumi agreed, and therefore her wish was granted. In the anime, Mutsumi appeared for a brief moment, praying for the gods to save her from the bullying. Yato appeared outside the school building, tossing and catching his 5 yen and used Tomone's weapon form Hanki to destroy the Phantom that loomed all over the school. Misconceptions about Mutsumi When the anime adaptation of Noragami was aired, an issue arose from the majority of English-reading fans who started reading the manga after watching the anime adaptation. There is a major confusion regarding Hiyori and her (if any) relationship with Mutsumi. This confusion stems from a synopsis of the anime adaptation from a popular anime information site, MyAnimeList. While the information of it has changed by the time this article is written, this synopsis still exists in various anime downloading sites: Contrary to the synopsis, Hiyori was never bullied and never called for Yato’s help – the one who did was Mutsumi. Hiyori met Yato on the streets for the first time as Yato was looking for the cat named Milord. To add to the confusion, the first chapter of Noragami manga introduces Mutsumi – who is actually a minor character – in a way that misleads readers into thinking that she’s the main character. This is further “supported” when Yato gives all the explanations about the world of living and the afterlife, and Phantoms to Mutsumi and not Hiyori; and the last page of aforementioned chapter shows Hiyori with the caption, “This is how Yato and I met.” The last page of the first chapter is supposed to serve as a teaser on the fated meeting between Yato and Hiyori on the next chapter; however its function is somehow ruined with the entirety of the first chapter as Mutsumi is introduced first, leading readers into confusion whether Mutsumi and Hiyori are one and the same. To avoid confusion, the anime adaptation breaks the first chapter and make Mutsumi appear as a cameo. The rest of chapter 1 and the entirety of chapter 2 are then reorganized to give Hiyori - instead of Mutsumi - an impression of Yato, and help explain her half-phantom condition in the first episode. The bond severing skill (Zetsu) is brought to episode 4 with Yukine (Sekki) instead of Tomone (Hanki), and is used on a different person. With the reorganization of chapter 1 and 2 into the anime adaptation, Mutsumi’s role as a minor character becomes more obvious. In conclusion, Mutsumi and Hiyori are two different people and have no relations whatsoever to each other. Gallery Mutsumi 3.jpg|Mutsumi bullied by her classmates Tomone Performing Zetsu.png|Yato severs Mutsumi's relationship with her classmates (manga only) Category:Female Category:Characters Category:Human